Ice rink planned for Town of Union

The not-for-profit group SCORE is partnering with the town after voting to purchase equipment for an outdoor rink and donate it to the town for use in one of its parks.

Vestal resident Ashley Kristek, 4, swings with her mother, Jill, and older sister Katie, 6, at West Endicott Park. The Town of Union is considering putting an outdoor ice rink in of its parks. Supervisor Rose Sotak said the town is now looking closely at West Endicott Park. Another option is Highland Park in Endwell.
(Photo:
KRIS RADDER / STAFF PHOTO
)

Story Highlights

The not-for-profit group SCORE voted to donate equipment for an outdoor rink to the town.

Possible locations for the rink include West Endicott Park and Highland Park in Endwell.

The planned rink will have a hardened surface for warm-weather activities like rollerblading.

A not-for-profit group centered on increasing accessibility to ice recreation opportunities in Western Broome County is leading a push to create a community ice rink in the Town of Union by this winter.

Jim Tofte, president of the Skating Community for Opportunities in Recreation and Enrichment (SCORE), said the group’s board voted to purchase equipment for an outdoor rink and donate it to the town for use in one of its parks.

The organization is working with the town to determine a location for the rink and to figure out other details. Town of Union Supervisor Rose Sotak said the town has mostly ruled out Glendale Park and Route 17C Park after inspections, and is now looking closely at West Endicott Park. Another option is Highland Park in Endwell.

The planned rink, which would also have a hardened surface for warm-weather activities like rollerblading and lacrosse, is slated to cost around $25,000, the majority of which would come from SCORE, Tofte said. The town also is looking into funding options like Community Development Block Grant money, according to Sotak.

“(The rink is) a year-round activity, and it’s not only for kids — it’s for people of all ages,” Sotak said. “This is (about) quality of life. We want people to have things to do.”

Tofte, 47, of Endicott, said the outdoor rink is the first step in a broader project that SCORE has been working toward since the group’s inception five years ago. The group’s long-term goal is to build a year-round community center and indoor ice rink complex.

The mission is two-fold: make ice time more accessible to everyone in the community, and grow the local economy.

Tofte said many local ice-time users travel to rinks in Syracuse, Wilkes-Barre and Cortland.

“Every time somebody goes to play in Cortland, they travel, they buy gasoline, they give retail business and other (types of) business to a community other than our own,” Tofte said.

On a typical weekend, those facilities have around 30 participants coming in and out every 90 minutes, bringing with them an average of two people, like a parent or a sibling, according to Tofte.

He said a year-round ice facility could work in tandem with the SUNY Broome Ice Center and the Chenango Ice Rink to attract large tournaments to the area, filling hotel rooms and bringing business to local restaurants and retail outlets.

Tofte estimates a “bare bones” indoor rink would cost at least $1.25 million. He said the project would be a “great fit” for a number of grant programs geared toward community enhancement and economic development.

Tofte played hockey for Binghamton High School and then Binghamton University when it had a varsity team, and spent about 25 years as a referee in professional hockey leagues. He said ice space wasn’t easily accessible to him when he was growing up, and one of the goals of SCORE is to change that.

“I grew up playing hockey around here, and ... (this is) kind of my way of giving back to the sport and the recreation that helped me through adolescence,” he said.